(1) Field of the Invention
There are many nondestructive inspection methods presently being applied to tires. Most use X-radiography, infrared, holography and ultrasonic methods.
This invention relates to the testing of steel belted tires to determine their condition using nondestructive testing by a pulse-echo type of reflection pulse ultrasonic system.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Various pulse ultrasonic systems have been developed for the inspection of tires. Known U.S. patents in this field are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,378,237; 3,148,535; 3,336,794; 3,815,407 and 3,882,717.
The systems of the first two patents and the fourth patent are described in said copending patent application along with the description of the system used by Australian investigators and a system using an ultrasonic test instrument for examining tires with a cathode ray tube for a video display of the test data. That description is hereby incorporated by reference. The third and fifth patents mentioned above disclosed systems that use a through transmission type of ultrasonic testing of tires but that type of ultrasonic examination is not suitable to determine the condition of plies of a casing of a tire.